News "REED'er" says "The Gig is Up!"
I'm rather picky about words. I'm a writer. I have a few years of Latin training under my belt (Semper ubi sub ubi) and have always loved vocab, word usage and style. Last night I caught a double doosey of a blooper. (By the way "Doosey" was a nickname for the elegant, expensive car the "Duesenberg" from whence the term "doosey" came, meaning "penultimate." God my prep school English teacher would be proud of me!
Last night I'm watching the breaking news on CNN that-- shocker of all shockers-- the boyfriend of the pregnant woman who disappeared in Canton, Ohio has been arrested for her murder. And that of her baby. I'm not getting into that story. Women are murdered by their lovers and husbands and boyfriends every day of the week. Even pregnant women. Pretty white gals seem to count more than other women who disappear in the media's eyes. They found her body not far from where I lived in Ohio.
This WOIO anchor, Sharon Reed is giving her exclusive news to CNN last night. I gather she broke the story of where the body was located. And not once but TWICE she says, "The GIG is up." Wha-hut? The gig? Was the poor dead woman supposed to play at Blossom music center down the street from where she was found? Is that why Kelly Clarkson had to cancel her tour? Or did the boyfriend have an appearance on American Idol this week?
The phrase is "The JIG is up." Juh. Not Guh. Jig.
Was she reading something prepared? Speaking extemporaneously on the phone? Just excited to be on the national cable network sharing her breaking news?
I don't know. But she sounded like Nancy Grace and Gracie Allen combined to me.
A station in Tyler, Texas just hired a WWF card girl to read their news for 30 days.
This has news readers who have trained to read the news all furious and indignant. Like the public might catch on that the days of TV anchors getting the story, writing the story and then sharing the story on air are pretty much over.
Hey, news anchors. Maybe the GIG is up after all?
9 comments:
In the spirit of the gig. I've been having a hard time lately with a song out by Faith Hill/Tim MacGraw with a lyric,....
"I need you.... like a needle needs a vein."
What the?
Written by a pediatrician, no doubt..... ;)
My favorite is "I honed in on..." You what?
I, OTOH, am constantly writing/saying "from the offset" rather than "from the outset." No idea where that came from, but now I can't get rid of it.
I love Kim's Blog! I now speak 3 languages - English, Fench and American! Michelle it's a drug taking reference, needle = hyperdermic. Teacake offset is just fine, I get what you mean and honing in on things is picking out a detail to concentrate on. You see? I'm bi-lingual!
Hey, better that bad one than the ever popular "nukyalur" instead of nuclear.
Written, and how depressing when the guy who carries the suitcase CAN NOT PRONOUNCE the word for the mass destruction device carried therein.....
I don't think I'd want them to even talk about the "jig" being up after my murdered body is found. No cliches for me, people! I liked how the Sopranos always had the characters using phrases the wrong way. Can't think of any off the front of my head (ha!) but there seemed to one every episode.
The Faith & Tim lyric is creepy to be coming from good kountry folk like them thar. Unless Kim is right and it is about vaccines. In that case, go on, you upstanding first family of kountry music! Preach on about the needs of your veins for some good vacshinations. Unlike Kim, I spent my formidable (ha!) high school years in Nashville, TN. I got me some good learnin'! And what's wrong with nukyalur?! That's how its pernounced, aint it?
I live in a suburb of Cleveland, and the local news is an embarrassment to those of us who live here. Actually, not all the news channels here are completely bad. Channel 19's gossipy style is the worst of all the networks, though.
You're right, Kim. Some people have higher priority than others. I cannot believe that the news anchor used the wrong word...lol...
Post a Comment